Audioquest Dragon Powercord vs Hurricane

millercarbon.
I agree with everything you said.  The other factor to consider is the quality of the recording.  Rock/pop are heavily processed in general, whereas classical recordings usually are natural.  If the goal is high fidelity (HF) and not arbitrary "preferences", then clarity/detail is all important.  It is difficult to judge HF if a processed recording gives no reference for HF, but if the recording is natural, the clear/detailed component will allow the listener to come closer to HF.  Each component that is clear/detailed will enable more steps toward the goal of HF.  This is a straightforward approach that avoids the confusing and sideways method of combining complementary colorations.

ricred1,
In music, audio reproduction and life, there are some objective absolutes and some subjective preferences.  Clarity/detail is one of those absolutes, not a matter of opinion.  Songs have words which are often hard to fully appreciate.  It is obviously desirable to have more clarity/detail to grasp what the words are, their inflections/nuances, delivery with unique and subtle pauses, etc.  With the spoken word in the absence of music, this is obvious.  Great actors have this clarity in abundance, and even radio/TV announcers are chosen for their clear speech and relative absence of distracting local accents like Southern drawl and NY mannerisms.  These desirable qualities are obvious to any listener.  Same goes for music.  Now, add instrumental sounds, and ever more complex music (especially classical) and the need for maximum clarity is obvious.  The trick is to obtain clarity without emphasis on any 1 feature--you don't want to sound like a didactic English grammar teacher who is highlighting a particular quality of the spoken word, which is certainly not a natural way of speaking.  The same applies to music and audio.  You don't want emphasis on any particular freq range which creates artificial, unbalanced sound.  In theory, this is ideal, but the reality of all speakers which are far from perfectly neutral and clear is that to compensate for deficiencies of the speaker, you may end up emphasizing certain freq ranges with your choice of components.  This is a legitimate use of subjective analysis which dictates your preferences.  I am not contradicting myself here, but all this effort is in the service towards the goal of high fidelity.  It is just the reality of all the components that the whole system is highly flawed, and we must strive for the goal of high fidelity, not just striving for a full or warm sound just because you like it.  It is a general observation that full/warm sound with more bass and rolled off high freq will detract from clarity.  The most accurate/neutral amps are also well balanced AND clear/detailed in all freq ranges.  Bass will have less slam and fullness, but it will be tighter and reveal more clarity in those freq.  If you go too far and cut the bass at say, 100 Hz you will have more clarity in mid and high freq by default emphasis, but of course this is not natural and true to life.  

ricred1,
You simply asked me whether I thought clarity/detail is an "absolute" or whether it is subjective, like "your clarity is my sterile/bright."  That was a good question.  Forget audio systems for a moment.  I gave examples of the spoken word to explain that clarity/detail is an "absolute", just as it is correct to say that "9" is objectively, absolutely greater than "8."  In all aspects of life, clarity is a desirable attribute.  But it appears that the clarity concept of "high fidelity" is not important to you, only that you strive for sound that you like.  I too, strive for sound that I like, but it happens to correspond to the search for high fidelity.  In all honesty, and without dictating to you or anyone else, I have a reasonable facsimile of high fidelity, although it is not perfect fidelity.

ricred1,
I agree on most of what you just said.  I would say that PERFECT fidelity is not possible, but HIGH fidelity is.  Certainly most recordings add distortion which we don't exactly know went into the processing, but you can ignore the distortions and listen to the essence of the music.  Even with purist recordings that don't add distortion, we don't know the acoustics and the electronics used.  But general experience with live unamplified music in various settings teaches us the general qualities of live sound.  If you strive for clarity, you can appreciate more of the nuances which are the real essence of the music you enjoy.  It's like fully enjoying your friends/loved ones while ignoring their deficiencies.  Another possibility is that some people at classical concerts like to sit further back where the sound is warmer than close up.  They can design their systems to produce high fidelity to what they hear from that distant seat, which is warm.  If that is what they want, then high fidelity matches warmth.  However, most recordings are made with close microphones and supplemental ones for ambience.  High fidelity reproduction of these recordings should have a close and detailed perspective, by definition.